Tuesday, July 5, 2011

What is Lady Macbeth's reaction to her husband's letter?

Lady Macbeth is very gratified by Macbeth's letter, and she does not doubt for a moment that the rest of the Weird Sisters' statements will come true. She says, "Glamis thou art, and Cawdor; and shalt be / What thou art promised." However, she fears that Macbeth is too kind, too compassionate, and too loyal to Duncan to take the fastest path to the throne: killing the current king. She says, "Yet do I fear thy nature; / It is too full o' th' milk of human kindness / To catch the nearest way [...]." She admits that he is ambitious, but she feels that he lacks "the illness" which would compel him to privilege that quality over the others.


In light of this lack, she determines that she will need to plan and execute Duncan's murder herself, and when she learns that he is on his way to their home, she is terrifyingly ecstatic. Lady Macbeth is already resolved to regicide, as she refers to Duncan's arrival as his "fatal entrance" into their home. Like Macbeth before her, she addresses the sky and prays for darkness so that nothing and no one will be able to see her actions. She says, "Come, thick night, / And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell, / That my keen knife see not the wound it makes, / Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark /To cry 'Hold, hold!'" Such a coincidence helps to show us how well-matched this pair actually is for one another.

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